JAMESVILLE, N.Y. – The SUNY Cobleskill women’s cross country team won its seventh straight North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) Championship, which was hosted by Cazenovia College at Jamesville Beach State Park Saturday.  The Fighting Tigers, who entered the season as the preseason favorites, won with a team score of 41 points after boasting the top-two finishing runners while having five finishers place within the top 20 of the 88-runner field.   

The performance also helped the Fighting Tigers sweep the individual awards.  Junior Taylor Tommell (Guilderland, N.Y.) was named the NEAC Runner of the Year after winning the six-kilometer race with a time of 24:35.  The performance capped off an excellent season for Tommell, who was selected as the NEAC Runner of the Week on three separate occasions.  Freshman Quinn Porter (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) finished four seconds behind Tommell for second place en route to being named the NEAC Rookie of the Year, while head coach Mitch Tomaszkiewicz was selected as the NEAC Coach of the Year for the second straight year and fifth time in his career.

Suny Cobleskill sophomore AnnaClaire Piersiak (Staten Island, N.Y.), last year’s NEAC Rookie of the Year, placed sixth at this year’s event, while seniors Megan Jenney (Troy, N.Y.) and Chantal Fauteux (Lebanon, Conn.) came in 13th and 19th place, respectively.  All five aforementioned Fighting Tiger finishers garnered NEAC All-Conference selections.

Morrisville State College placed second with 81 points after freshman Raylene Wade (Red Creek, N.Y.) and senior Laura Harmon (Milford, N.Y.) finished in seventh and eighth place, respectively.  Cazenovia College came in third place with 87 points after a fifth-place finish by junior Emily Kotnick (Sagamore Hills, Ohio) and a ninth-place finish by junior and last year’s NEAC Runner of the Year Shelby McIntyre (Ilion, N.Y.).  Lancaster Bible College freshman Karisa Lambertson (Waterboro, Maine) placed fourth and junior Liz Davis (Parkton, Md.) placed 10th to lead the Chargers to a fourth place finish with 97 points, followed by Penn State Abington rounding out the top-five team finishes with 133 points.  Rounding out the top-10 individual finishers was Wells College freshman Amanda Fastiggi (Pleasant Valley, N.Y.), who placed third. 

The rest of the 13-team field finished as follows: Keuka College (6th, 149 points); Penn State Berks (7th, 150 points); Wells College (8th, 168 points); Gallaudet University (9th, 269 points); Bryn Athyn College* (10th, 273 points); SUNY Polytechnic Institute* (11th, 273 points) and Penn College (12th, 307 points).  Wilson College did not have enough runners to qualify for a team finish.

Click here to view the NEAC All-Conference First Team, Second Team and Third Team selections, which were determined based on finish times at the championship race, with the top-seven finishers making up the first team, followed by the 8th-14th finishers on the second team and the 15th-21st finishers on the third team.

*Tie broken by a 3-2 top-5 comparison 

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The North Eastern Athletic Conference has fourteen NCAA Division III member institutions which include: Bryn Athyn College, Cazenovia College, College of St. Elizabeth, Gallaudet University, Keuka College, Lancaster Bible College, Pennsylvania College of Technology, Pennsylvania State University - Abington, Pennsylvania State University - Berks, SUNY Cobleskill, SUNY Institute of Technology, SUNY Morrisville State College, Wells College, and Wilson College.  Associate members are: Cedar Crest College (W Swimming), D’Youville College (M Volleyball), Hilbert College (M Lacrosse & M Volleyball), Medaille College (M&W Lacrosse & M Volleyball), Penn State Altoona (M Volleyball) and Rutgers University - Camden (M Golf).  The North Eastern Athletic Conference has partnered with the North Atlantic Conference in the sports of field hockey and men’s and women’s tennis.